Dad's Army @ 40

[Pip Madeley]

Presenter Jonathan Ross has signed up to host a one-off TV special to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the BBC series Dad's Army.

The show, Jonathan Ross Salutes Dad's Army, will include some of the series' stars, its creators and celebrity fans.

The comedy series, which ran from 1968 to 1977, was about the Home Guard in World War II. Dad's Army was created by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, the duo who also wrote Allo 'Allo and It Ain't Half Hot, Mum. Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier and Clive Dunn starred.

Producers of the one-hour special want to hear from fans of the TV comedy and anyone who met the cast and crew.

Any fans then? It's always left me cold, I don't know why, it should be a favourite but...

[SiHart]

Will it be as good as Victoria Wood celebrating the 30th anniversary, I wonder?

Si xx

[Si Hunt]

I like "Dad's Army" though I see it as one of those things I haven't yet explored fully. We recently saw a stage-play adaption of the missing episodes, and it was very good indeed.

I fear for this production though, given the involvement of the awful Jonathan Ross. Why does his name have to be in the title of the show? I can just see it now - a crass BBC orchestra will be banging out the theme tune, the audience will roar with applause, and Jonathan will descend the steps to simper fondly and say things like "they touched our hearts" and then use oft-repeated catchphrases and introduce the "Don't tell him Pike" clip before wheeling on the doddery old relics that are the remaining cast members. There will be none of the wit and pathos that characterised the original show.

Si.

[SiHart]

So it probably won't be as good as the Victoria Wood celebration then!

Si xx

[Zbigniev Hamson]

I've never even seen it. It was always turned off to a chorus of groans whenever the theme tune came on growing up in my house, so I always assumed it was rubbish (and the theme tune made it SOUND like it would be rubbish so I had no reason to doubt it).

Then one day my parents seemed quite surprised to hear that I had never seen it, even though they were the ones who always turned it off. Furthermore they told me they thought it was quite good and that they only turned it off because they were sick of it after so many repeats.

Nice one Mum and Dad

[Simon R]

What was the Victoria Wood tribute thingy? Tell on!

I'm a bit indifferent to Dad's Army. It's well acted and the characters are good but it's a little twee at times. I can see why people like it though and there's far worse sitcoms.

[Captain Tancredi]

I'm quite fond of it, I think as much as anything else because the regulars are brilliantly cast and their characters fit like gloves- plus you can imagine that most of what goes on in your average episode probably happened somewhere out of the way at some point in the war.

[Si Hunt]

I like the characters - Jones is outwardly very funny, but several of the other characters have remarkable depth and inner sadness - notably Captain Mainwaring played by the wonderful Arthur Lowe. But my favourite character is Godfrey - I love the way he dodders about with his first aid box being absolutely useless.

Si.

[Wayne]

I'm somewhere in between 'don't mind', & 'quite like'.
There are other 70's sit-coms i prefer, (Porridge, Rising Damp, Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads, On the Buses, Bless This House, Steptoe & Son) but i'd happily watch it if it comes on telly.

[Jon Masters]

Dad's Army is a classic, and as Si says it works so well because there isn't a wasted character in it, and everyone plays it as though they are the lead. I've been buying the DVDs for my uncle and aunt over the last few years for Christmas & birthdays, and its a show that doesn't jump the shark in any shape or form.

Unsurprisingly I like Joe Frasier best.....

As for Ross' involvement - well, that's another potentially good programme ruined. They should hand it over to his less talented brother - at least the focus would be on the programme then.

[Andrew Curnow]

Some interesting bits 'n' pieces here at the BBC.

Particularly interesting to read is the exchange of memos between the Head of Comedy and the BBC Controller, over the title sequence. That can be found from here (3 pages)

[Llordllama]

I love it, and helped by my Uncle who is an uber fan with whom we used to play the Dad's Army board game in the holidays.

I saw a stage production a few years back in a seaside theatre in devon (not quite Warmington on Sea but close enough). It was excellent, though watching it with a crowd of 70+ year olds was a very unusual experience - one of them told me off for laughing too loudly...

[Wayne]

There's a whole night of 'Dad's Army' on BBC2 on Saturday. Starting with the movie at 5pm. Then other stuff from 8pm to 11pm.

Dad's Army Night.

[Si Hunt]

Just watched the Jonathan Ross show.

There were touches of care: re-building the set, the rare archive footage, the lovely gifts they gave the writers... but nothing on the missing episodes, they rushed three of the five surviving cast members (all of whom seemed chatty) through in five minutes, then gave us ten pathetic minutes of Jon Thomson and Ross pratting about pretending to be Home Guard soldiers. WTF?! Then the writers were also rushed through in five minutes, and we got 20 seconds from Clive Dunn. Insulting.

Si.

[Jon Masters]

Didn't bother with it - yesterday's programme by Victoria Wood was very good though, with lots of old film footage, and Bill Pertwee's excellent impressions of his fellow stars (while digging the knife in).

[Wayne]

I watched most of Dad's Army night.
The Victoria Wood programme was good. I'm amazed how good Clive Dunn looks for 88! I never realized he was only 48 when he took the role of Jones. I always thought he was much older than he actually was.
I thought the Arthur Lowe 'Reputations' docu was fascinating stuff. It's always interesting to learn something about the real lives of 'stars'. I laughed my head off at the clip of him on the awards show thing. Doing the Captain Mainwaring thing, & telling the audience to 'settle down'. And i thought it was brilliant how he conned the audience into thinking his forgetfulness & lack of concentration was an act.
Terrible death in a way though. I'd rather slip away quietly like Sid James, than suffer the abject fear that he experienced. His last words sounded as though he was absolutely terrified.

I'm now thinking of getting the complete Dad's Army box set. I haven't actually watched an episode for years, & you forget how good it was!

[Jonno]

Just out of curiosity, which two episodes did the co-creators choose as their favourites, which were then shown on Sat night?

[Captain Tancredi]

Jimmy Perry's was 'Branded' and David Croft's was 'Mum's Army'- interesting because they're both episodes which step outside the comedy to delve a bit more into the characters.

[Wayne]

Well i only saw one of the two episodes Jonno. I forget the title, but it was the one where Captain Mainwaring falls in love with that Fiona woman. Nice episode actually.

Edited to add: Ah i see Ian's answered the question.

Also, i thought the film was pretty reasonable too. Considering how poor the film spin-offs of tv shows usually are. I'm pretty sure i'd never seen it before either.

[Ralph]

I've gone off Dad's army a bit over the years, I think it had plenty of reruns -I feel fairly neutral about it these days - I won't be buying the DVDs

Maybe if I sat down to watch an episode I might change my mind - I Think "Last Of The Summer Wine" has cheesed me off with a lot of old boys in a sitcom.

[Llordllama]

I'm with Wayne - oh so many 70s sitcoms had film spin offs and I can't remember a single one other than DA that didn't suck. Then again On the Buses was arse to begin with.

I was at my mum's when the film was on, but sat and watched it all. She couldn't quite understand why though (despite the fact she got me hooked on it originally). "How can you still find this funny?" she asked.

Easy - good character actors, good script, comedy timing to die for and a big heaping pile of nostalga. Thinking I must get the DVDs on my "to buy" list now...

[Pip Madeley]

I'm with Wayne - oh so many 70s sitcoms had film spin offs and I can't remember a single one other than DA that didn't suck.

Man About The House, Steptoe and Son, Steptoe and Son Ride Again, Holiday On The Buses... all great!

[Antony Cox]

There was a Porridge film, wasn't there? I seem to remember that being reasonable, too.

[Dirk Gently]

Better than reasonable IMO.

[Wayne]

I like On the Buses! (Both Series & Films)
And yes the Porridge film is a goodun.
I suppose the one i always think of as a really crap movie spin-off is 'Rising Damp'. Great series, but the film is really poor. The script has loads of re-hashed bits from the series, that just aren't funny second time round. (especially with that crap replacement 'Alan' character, who could never in a million years live up to Richard Beckinsale) Rossiter does his best, but the rest don't seem to have any conviction.
The 'Man About the House' movie is also terrible, & from memory, so is the film of 'Are You Being Served', but i haven't seen that one for ages.

I Think "Last Of The Summer Wine" has cheesed me off with a lot of old boys in a sitcom.

Yeah but LOTSW is shit!